Drier



Jan. 22, 1946. D. M. DUNCAN ET AL I DRIER Filed June 8, 1943 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 31 vac/Wham 1AM. DUNCAN E $.WRI0H1' Aacmcxsou QAHEYNE Jan. 22, 1946.

D. M. DUNCAN ET AL 2,393,521

DRIER Filed June a, 1945 3 Sheeis-Shet 2 DMDUNCAN I. SWRIGHT ASmDwxsou LZAJIEYNE Patented Jan. 22, 1946 DRIER Donald M. Duncan and Francis 8. Wright, Alton, Albert S. Jackson, Wood River, and Clarence A. Heyne, Alton, 111., assignors to Owens- Illinois Glass Company, a corporation of'O'hio ApplicationJuneS, 1943, Serial No. 490,020

6 Claims.

Our invention relates to heating and drying apparatus. In the form herein illustrated, the .ainvention is particularly adapted for use "in connection with processes of decorating glassware or -the like, by the application of coloring or decorating material. In decorating "glassware .it is common practice to apply two -01 more c01- ors succession to the articles by separate operations. Aiterone color is app1ied, the article must he heated and "the decorating material thereby dried or hardened before a succeeding color is applied. it is also necessary after each such operation, to cool the ware before a succeeding decoration.

:Anobjectof our invention is to provide an eihcient apparatus for heating the glassware after the application of a decoratingmaterial, to set and harden such material, and means for cooling the article preparatory to the application of a succeeding coloror material.

"Other objects of the invention will appear hereinafter.

Referring to the accompanying drawings:

iEig. '1 is a side elevation of a heating "and drying unit. c

'2 is a sectional plan of the same at the line ii 2 on Fig.3.

Fig. 3 h; a cross-sectionalelevation. at the lin'e 3-3 on Fig. i,

Fig. 4 ha-diagrammatic plan viewof the apparatus.

' Fig. Sis a sectional plan view showing a heator block and homers.

Fig. 6 is an elevation of the same, with a-portion thereof 'in'sectionat "the line G -6 on Fig. 5. Fig. 7 is a section at the line l--l on Fig. '5.

Fig. -8 is a fragmentary sectional view on a larger scale, of a portion of the heater block shown in "Fig. 6

' hs shown diagrammatically in Fig. 4, the apparatuscomprises a heating and drying unit iii, and an endless conveyor H by which articles 12 are carried through the heating unit It for heating "the articles and thereby drying and hardening coloring material whichhas been applied as bymeanso'f a decorating machine F3. After passing through the heating and drying unit "it, the articles are carried 'by the conveyor in a zigzag "or circuitous path to a second decoratin'g station'to -receive a second color application by a decorating unit H. The necessary cooling of the "articles between succeeding decorations takes place during their travel with the conveyorbetweenthe drying unit and the second decorating station;

The conveyor II is mounted on a homework including channel bars 15 (Figs. iv and cross bars 46 "mounted thereon, and parallel-spaced angle bars l-l providinga runway for the conveyor H. The conveyor comprises an endless chain having pivoted thereto a series of plates 18 which provides a substantially flat supporting surface for the articles l2, herein shown asbctties. The plates 18 are supported on the angle bars ll during their travel through the heating tunnel. The conveyor chain is trained over a series "of sprocket wheels 19 (Figs. 1 and 4-) on shafts 20, the-conveyor being guided thereby in a zigzag path and comprising a multiplicity of leads or strands, eachextending froinone shaft to the next. The=conveyor is thus made of suificien't length to permit the necessary degree of cooling of the bottles during their passage from one decorating unit to the next. The conveyor istdriven continuously as by means oi an electric motor (not shown) The heating and drying unit it: comprises burner blocks 22 "ineach of which is mounted a multiplicity of burners. These blocks are arranged in rows and spaced as shown in "Figs. '2 and 3 to provide a passageway for the articles I2. Blocks 23 surmount'the biOCkS 2? and together therewith, provide a heating tunnel 24 through which the articles are carried. Cap blocks 25 provide a roof for the tunnel. 'The blocks 2-2, 23, and. 25 are made-oi heat insulating, refractory material.

"The heating unit is supported on the framework '-l5 by means of vertlcalangle bars (Figs.

1 and 3). These bars-are attached to the framework by bolts 27 which extend through elongated slots in the bars. The bars 2% are attached to plates 28 by bolts 29 (Fig. 5), which plates form the outer walls of distributing chambers 3B. The inner walls of said chambers comof said openings being arranged 'inthe same vertical plane. A second series of openings '31, circular in cross "section, extends from the opposite iace of the block to an intermediate position. The openings 3'1 are arranged in staggered relation to the openings 36. The ends 38 of the openings 31 extend beyond the ends 36 of the openings 35. The distance between adjacent openings 35 is less than the diameter of the openings 31, so that the block is cut through at the overlapping portions of the openings 35 and 31, thus providing passageways 39 (Figs. 7 and 8) between the openings, so that the openings 35 and 31 together provide channels extending entirely through the burner blocks.

The plate 3l,has mounted thereon a series of burner pipes or tubes 40 secured in said plate and arranged to project into the openings 37. The pipes 40 are of somewhat smaller diameter than the openings 31 and also shorter than said openings. Fuel gas is supplied through pipes 4| (Fig. l) to mixing chambers or inspirators 42. The mixture of gas and air isconducted to manifold pipes 43, 44 from which branch pipes 45 lead to the distributor chambers 30. Combustion of the mixed gases takes place within the openings 35. The heat is of sufiicient intensity to heat the walls of said openings to incandescence. The

bottles i2 or other articles, passing through the tunnel 24 are thus subjected to radiant heat, the heat rays, as indicated by the arrows in Fig. 3, being radiated from the refractory walls of the burner blocks 22.

A sheet metal casing 46 is provided to enclose the walls of the tunnel and arranged to receive the gases of combustion which are conveyed therefrom through a hood 4! to a stack 48.

Operation.The operator transfers the bottles 12 from the decorating unit l3, when the color or decorating material has been applied, and places them on the conveyor I I (Fig. 4) adjacent the intake end of the heating tunnel. The articles as they pass through the tunnel are heated to the desired high temperature, thereby drying and hardening the applied decorating material. The articles after they emerge from the tunnel are carried by the conveyor in a zigzag or circuitous path which is of sufiicient length to permit the articles to be cooled to the required temperature, which may be in the neighborhood of 90 F., more or less, by the time they reach the second decorating unit l4.

Modifications may be resorted to within the spirit and scope of our invention.

We claim:

1. A heating apparatus comprising a horizontal open-ended. tunnel, a traveling conveyor extending along the tunnel in position to convey articles through the tunnel, said tunnel comprising a row of burner blocks extending along one side thereof and having inner vertical faces forming a portion of the inner wall surface of the tunnel, said burner blocks being formed with a multiplicity of closely spaced channels extending through the blocks in a direction transverse to the said faces, said channels being symmetrically arranged and of predetermined size and shape, and means for supplying fuel gases to said channels.

2. A heating apparatus comprising a horizontal open-ended tunnel, a traveling conveyor extending along the tunnel in position to convey articles through the tunnel, said tunnel comprising a row of burner blocks extending along one side thereof and having inner vertical faces forming a portion of the inner wall surface of the tunnel, said burner blocks being formed with a multiplicity of closely spaced channels extending through the blocks in a direction transverse to the said faces, said channels being symmetrically arranged and of predetermined size and shape, a distributing chamber positioned to overlie the outer faces of the burner blocks and open to said channels, and means for supplying a mixture of fuel and combustion supporting gases to the distributing chamber.

3. A heating apparatus comprising a horizontal open-ended tunnel, a traveling conveyor extending along the tunnel in position to convey articles through the tunnel, said tunnel comprising a row of burner blocks extending along one side thereof and having inner vertical faces forming a portion of the inner wall surface of the tunnel, said burner blocks being formed with a multiplicity of closely spaced channels extending through the blocks in a direction transverse to the said faces, said channels being symmetrically arranged and of predetermined size and shape, a distributing chamber positioned to overlie the outer faces of the burner blocks and open to said channels, means for supplying a mixture of fuel and combustion supporting gases to the distributing chamber, and burner tubes individual to the said channels and extending from said distributing chamber into said channels and terminating at intermediate points between the inner and outer faces of the burner blocks.

4. A heating and drying apparatus comprising a horizontal open-ended tunnel, horizontallyspaced burner blocks forming the lower portion of the side walls of the tunnel, said burner blocks having vertical inner faces forming the lower portion of the side wall surfaces of the tunnel, superposed refractory blocks forming the upper side wall portions of the tunnel, cap blocks positioned to form the roof of the tunnel, said burner blocks being formed with a multiplicity of symmetrically arranged closely spaced channels of predetermined size and shape extending horizontally through the burner blocks and opening through said vertical faces into the tunnel, means for conveying fuel gases and combustion supporting gases into said channels, and means for causing combustion of said gases within said blocks intermediate the said inner and outer faces thereof.

5. A heating and drying apparatus comprising a horizontal open-ended tunnel, horizontallyspaced burner blocks forming the lower portion of the side walls of the tunnel, said burner blocks having vertical inner faces forming the lower portion of the side wall surfaces of the tunnel, superposed refractory blocks forming the upper side wall portions of the tunnel, cap blocks positioned to form the roof of the tunnel, said burner blocks being formed with a multiplicity of symmetrically arranged closely spaced channels of predetermined size and shape extending horizontally through the burner blocks and opening through said vertical faces into the tunnel, distributing chambers mounted at the outer wall faces of the burner blocks, burner tubes extending from said chambers into said channels, and means for supplying fuel and combustion supporting gases to said chambers and burner tubes.

6. A heating apparatus comprising an openended tunnel, a traveling conveyor extendingalong the tunnel in position to convey articles through the tunnel, said tunnel comprising horizontally-spaced side walls, a said side wall being formed with a set of openings comprising a multiplicity of openings extending inwardly from the outer surface thereof and terminating at points intermediate the outer and inner wall surfaces, said openings being of predetermined size and positioned at regular intervals over the wall surface, said wall being formed with a second set of openings extending from the inner surface of the wall outwardly parallel with said first mentioned openings and in staggered relation thereto with the inner ends of the two sets of openings overlapping, and the openings of the two sets merging to provide continuous passageways through the tunnel wall, burner tubes extending from the outer surface of the wall into the openings of said outer set, and means for supplying a mixture of fuel and combustion supporting gases to said tubes.

DONALD M. DUNCAN. FRANCIS S. WRIGHT. ALBERT S. JACKSON. CLARENCE A. HEYNE. 

